Topic
Transparency & records
Public records fights, audit findings, disclosure failures.
32 articles · page 2 of 2 · RSS
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More License Plate Reader Mission Creep: School Residency Verification, Background Checks, and Noise Complaints
eff.org
EFF's review of Flock search logs found police running license plate queries for purposes far outside criminal investigation. School police in Buford, Georgia logged more than 375 searches to verify student residency between January 2025 and March 2026, over half of all their ALPR searches. Twenty-six agencies used the system on noise complaints, some querying thousands of camera networks.
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Woman wrongfully arrested in deadly I-4 crash speaks out after charges dropped
wesh.com
Lindsey Isaacs spent 13 days in jail after Florida Highway Patrol accused her of causing a fatal I-4 crash, citing a Flock license-plate reader that captured her tag three miles from the scene two minutes before the collision. Her attorney used time-distance analysis and vehicle inspection to show she was not involved. Prosecutors dropped all charges and arrested another woman driving a maroon Durango.
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Flock Safety ALPR Camera Installation Project (Notice of Exemption)
ceqanet.lci.ca.gov
A primary-source state filing. The City of Santa Rosa posted a CEQA Notice of Exemption on 3 April 2026 for installing a Flock camera and solar panel on an existing traffic signal or streetlight pole in the public right-of-way, on behalf of the Santa Rosa Police Department, on the grounds that no ground disturbance or new infrastructure is involved.
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Traffic Violation! License Plate Reader Mission Creep Is Already Here
eff.org
Georgia State Patrol cited a motorcyclist in December 2025 for holding a phone, with the ticket reading "CAPTURED ON FLOCK CAMERA." Flock has said publicly that its ALPR system is not used for traffic enforcement, but its partner program now lists six traffic-enforcement technology companies, and public records show speed cameras connected to its network.
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Cameras in Sonoma Are Watching You
sonomasun.com
A detailed account of the 16 ALPR cameras installed around the City of Sonoma's perimeter in 2023 for roughly $50,000. The cameras record plate numbers, vehicle color and type, and whether a plate is present. Police Chief Brandon Cutting, one of three certified administrators, says federal agencies cannot reach the data and that outside requests require administrator approval and are logged.
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Joplin officer no longer employed after alleged misuse of license plate tracking system
kctv5.com
A Joplin, Missouri police officer left the department amid an internal affairs investigation into misuse of the Flock license plate reader system, allegedly searching one plate roughly 395 times over 14 months while citing only "DWI" or "Warrants" without case numbers. Activist group Deflock Joplin says its analysis found the user accounted for about 25% of departmental Flock queries and questions the contract's approval and missing written policy. Police pledged monthly audits and cited cases solved with the system.
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How Cops Are Using Flock Safety's ALPR Network to Surveil Protesters and Activists
eff.org
EFF analyzed more than 12 million Flock Safety ALPR searches logged by over 3,900 agencies between December 2024 and October 2025, obtained through public records requests. More than 50 federal, state, and local agencies ran hundreds of searches citing protest-related reasons, including "No Kings" rallies, immigration protests, and Direct Action Everywhere actions. Roughly 20 percent of all searches reviewed listed vague reasons such as "investigation" or "suspect."
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Leaving the Door Wide Open: Flock Surveillance Systems Expose Washington Data to Immigration Enforcement
jsis.washington.edu
Records obtained from 31 Washington law enforcement agencies show at least eight enabled direct data sharing of their Flock networks with U.S. Border Patrol during 2025, while audits indicate Border Patrol also had apparent access to networks of at least ten departments that never authorized it. Researchers documented searches run on behalf of ICE, out-of-state searches including a Texas abortion investigation, and discrepancies that obscure the true scope of sharing.
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Leaving the Door Wide Open: Flock Surveillance Systems Expose Washington Data to Immigration Enforcement
jsis.washington.edu
University of Washington researchers traced three routes by which federal immigration agents reached Washington ALPR data. At least eight local agencies enabled direct sharing with Border Patrol; agents ran thousands of searches on at least ten more departments' networks without explicit authorization; and a single county sheriff's search listing "ICE" as its reason touched 89 networks.
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Flock Safety and Texas Sheriff Claimed License Plate Search Was for a Missing Person. It Was an Abortion Investigation.
eff.org
Records obtained by EFF show Johnson County, Texas deputies opened a "death investigation" of a "non-viable fetus" after a woman's self-managed abortion, collected evidence of it, and asked prosecutors about charging her. A sergeant ran two Flock ALPR searches logged as "had an abortion, search for female," spanning up to 83,345 cameras nationwide, contradicting the sheriff's and Flock's claims it was a welfare check.
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California police illegally share license plate reader data with ICE and Border Patrol
calmatters.org
Records obtained by Oakland Privacy showed California agencies breaking SB 34 more than 100 times in a single month by running plate searches for ICE and Customs and Border Protection, including the LAPD and the San Diego, Orange, and Riverside county sheriffs. Of 491,000 queries analyzed, more than 64,000 gave only a vague reason such as "investigation."
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‘Dumb as hell:’ Orange City officer accused of stalking woman using license plate readers
clickorlando.com
An Orange City, Florida police officer, Jarmarus Brown, was arrested on charges of stalking and improper computer access after a woman reported he tracked her movements. An audit of his Flock license plate reader searches found he repeatedly ran tags for three specific vehicles over roughly seven months. A fellow officer had warned him to stop. Brown told detectives his conduct was "dumb as hell."